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The end of Exteel

by Justin Olivetti on Jul 29th 2010 9:00AM

Set the flags to half-mast, put on your blackest mech armor, and raise a glass with us: As of September 1st, Exteel is shutting its doors and powering down its giant fighting 'bots. NCsoft announced the game's cancellation with a bittersweet consolation prize in the form of a late August event where all parts and mechs will be sold for one NCcoin apiece.

Exteel has been around since December 2007, a mere month after Massively itself opened its doors. While it was never a title to garner a huge amount of attention, Exteel's combination of a mech-based setting, PvP-centric play and microtransaction funding made it unique to the MMO genre.

NCsoft said that the game was no longer "financially viable," adding, "We know that we have many loyal players who love Exteel. Although this decision was a painful one, in the end it was a business decision that had to be made. We encourage everyone to play and have fun with the game that you love in the time you have left."

Tags: cancel, cancellation, cancelled, exteel, f2p, free-to-play, ftp, mech, mechanaught, microtransactions, ncsoft, pvp, shutting-down

Reader Comments (40)

Meh... it wasn't that fun anyway imo. At least from what I remember playing of it.

That and the only way I found out about it was because I was looking to see if there were any mech-based MMOs... that game hardly got any coverage or advertising or anything.

What'd be nice is if there were an actual mech MMO that was more of an open/free-roam game, and you could actually exit your mech when needed (like to talk with parts dealers or fix up your mech).

I was excited about Exteel until I played it.

It wasn't the MMG I'd hoped for, so much as Counterstrike rounds in mech suits, with the dubious addition of a system where you could, quite literally, buy your way to victory by purchasing better equipment in the game store.

why why why... why won't NCSoft let people run their own servers of the game or let it convert into a single player game instead of just saying, 'well we're taking back your game now'. This is one of the things I hate about NC with a passion. AutoAssault, Tabula Rasa, and Exteel...

How does that benefit NCSoft any? Does it help them recoup lost money? Is there anything licensed in the game? What about the companies that own that stuff? Unreal Engine isn't free. If your buddy starts his own server and asks for donations, is he going to give some of that money back?

For that matter: why would any game company do that?

I see wishful thinking but no reason why they should have any incentive to give away something like that for free. Especially AA and TR - how many millions of dollars got sunk into those games? And you think they should give those games, client and server software, away for free? Basically making their own, failed games into competition for their profitable games but receive no money from at all?

That makes no sense to me.

I'm kind of surprised it took this long; it was an under-marketed, mediocre game, and not even a real MMO.

Its not an MMO. Just a multiplayer shooter game. Not bad really.

What? You say a game should have more marketing but other than WoW. Most MMOs have next to no marketing. I assume most of the money is eaten up maintaining the game.

I do see DDO and occasionally LOTRO ads online, but other than that...I really don't see any other MMOs. It's always been word of mouth really.

There is a way to market that costs almost no money. You give interviews and get articles written about your product. You put out press releases. You get people who can spread the word (like Massively and Blue's News) talking about your game.

I check Massively several times a day, and have for many months, and I never heard of this game until today.

But then, massively isn't known for being particularly broad in it's coverage. The blog appears to only cover mainstream games, with a veery small mix of editor favorites.

There's cosmic break, but it's currently between beta tests, with the next one starting in september. It's also less realistic and more mecha-musume but it looks good. Site is at http://www.cosmicbreak.com/home

C'mon, Aion! Make it a foursome.

It is a foursome already, as indicated by a few of the posters here: Tabula Rasa, Exteel, Dungeon Runners, and Auto Assault, which is the one you and everyone forgets - a shame since it was the most fun of the bunch.

Thanks, my point is now illustrated more fully.

Make it a fivesome, NC!

Amazing. NCsoft just cannot seem to keep any games open. Auto Assault, Tabula Rasa (One of the few MMOs I actually liked), Dungeon Runners, and now Exteel. What's next, City of Heroes? (Obviously, it's just a question of when).

This game died due to it's pay to win model sadly, those who paid far outclassed those who didn't

this will be the same reason why many other f2p's over the years will slowly die out due to the pay to win model

Oh yeah right, Auto Assault.

And didn't know CoH was PlayNC also. I figured PlayNC was just their F2P offerings.

NCsoft is always talking about business decisions, how good are those business decisions? For me NCsoft has become a company that doesnt think twice about canning games that arent making enough money. So, what that tells me, is im not interested in putting time and effort in a game that might be canned a year or two after launch.

Not that exteel is a big loss, but in general, NCsoft is not a company im interested in forking money over to because of how fast they can games.

Ach its just NCsoft doing what they always do.

Players are the last thing on their mind and honestly I think they belong in the same 5 cents bin as Cryptic.

Their philosophy is wrong and not adapted to the western market.
I'm not even sure why anyone would even play a NCsoft game these days.
They are just too unreliable.

it was a really good game that NCsoft didnt pay any attention to for months at a time... real shame too, they're only f2p game currently and they're gonna trash it, i started mid summer had a lot going for me in there.. good thing i didnt ever get NCcoins xD

CALLING ALL EXTEEL PLAYERS

Convert to SD Gundam Capsule Fighter Online!!!

It's pretty much a SECOND Exteel game, and it's just as, if not, MORE fun than Exteel if you're a gundam fan like I am who plays this game. =D

I can show you how to get into the game! I made tutorials all about it for you guys to take a look at!

Previous 20 Comments

The end of Exteel

Reader Comments (40)

Posted: Jul 29th 2010 11:52AM Sorithal said

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Posted: Jul 30th 2010 4:28AM Eric Francis said

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